Paraphrasing, summarising & quoting secondary sources
Paraphrasing
Original sentence:
McDonaldization affects not only the restaurant business, but also education, work, the criminal justice system, health care, travel, leisure, dieting, politics, the family, religion, and virtually every other aspect of society. Taken from: Ritzer, G. (2004). The McDonaldization of society. London: Pine Forge Press.
Example paraphrase:
Most areas of society – including the workplace, schools, the courts, government, medicine and relaxation – are affected by McDonaldization (Ritzer, 2004, 2).
Summarising
This is when you reduce an author’s idea to main points only. If it is from a specific page, you need the page number. If you are summarising a general idea from a whole publication, you don’t need a page number.
Example from previous source:
The McDonaldization of society has an effect on various aspects of society (Ritzer, 2004).
Quoting
This is when you use an author’s exact words. You need to use double quotations marks.
Example:
Ritzer (2004, 2) argues that “McDonaldization affects not only the restaurant business, but also education, work, the criminal justice system, health care, travel, leisure, dieting, politics, the family, religion, and virtually every other aspect of society.”
Paraphrasing vs Quoting
It is generally better to paraphrase, as this keeps all your writing in a consistent style (your voice). It also shows you’ve understood what you’ve read. However, sometimes quoting is effective.
When to use quotations:
- When it’s important for your reader to see the actual language used in the source
- When you are discussing an author’s position and you plan to discuss the wording of a core assertion
- When you risk losing the essence of the author’s ideas in the translation from their words to your own
- When you want to appeal to the authority of the author and using their words will emphasize that authority